Production, characterization and application of ternary phase diagrams for the purification of biodiesel produced from tropical almond seed oil

This study presents the application of ternary phase diagrams to tropical almond biodiesel components separation and purification at two temperatures. The seed oil was extracted mechanically and alkaline transesterified to produce biodiesel. The oil and biodiesel were characterized using standard methods. Tie lines and binodal solubility curve data were determined using modified cloud point titration procedures. Gas chromatographic method was employed in the analysis of the phase compositions. The mixture of biodiesel, methanol and glycerol were investigated at 20 °C, 30 °C and withdrawal times of 2 to 32 minutes at 2 minutes intervals. Distribution coefficient, K and solvent selectivity, S analysis were performed. Results obtained showed that S > 1 indicating the ability of methanol to promote phase separation and purification. K < 1 implying that there was lower quantities of methanol solubilized in the biodiesel phase. The ternary phase diagrams provided the means of predicting the components distribution. Keywords: Production, Characterization, Tropical Almond Biodiesel, Purification, Ternary Phase Diagra

A general framework to support cost-efficient survey design choices for the control of soil-transmitted helminths when deploying Kato-Katz thick smear

Background To monitor and evaluate soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control programs, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends screening stools from 250 children, deploying Kato-Katz thick smear (KK). However, it remains unclear whether these recommendations are suffi-cient to make adequate decisions about stopping preventive chemotherapy (PC) (preva-lence of infection &lt;2%) or declaring elimination of STHs as a public health problem (prevalence of moderate-to-heavy intensity (MHI) infections &lt;2%). Methodology We developed a simulation framework to determine the effectiveness and cost of survey designs for decision-making in STH control programs, capturing the operational resources to perform surveys, the variation in egg counts across STH species, across schools, between and within individuals, and between repeated smears. Using this framework and a lot quality assurance sampling approach, we determined the most cost-efficient survey designs (number of schools, subjects, stool samples per subject, and smears per stool sam-ple) for decision-making. Principal findings For all species, employing duplicate KK (sampling 4 to 6 schools and 64 to 70 subjects per school) was the most cost-efficient survey design to assess whether prevalence of any infection intensity was above or under 2%. For prevalence of MHI infections, single KK was the most cost-efficient (sampling 11 to 25 schools and 52 to 84 children per school). Conclusions/Significance KK is valuable for monitoring and evaluation of STH control programs, though we recom-mend deploying a duplicate KK on a single stool sample to stop PC, and a single KK to declare the elimination of STHs as a public health problem.</p

An exploratory analysis of the regionalization policy for the recruitment of health workers in Burkina Faso

BACKGROUND: Health personnel retention in remote areas is a key health systems issue wordwide. To deal with this issue, since 2002 the government of Burkina Faso has implemented a staff retention policy, the regionalized health personnel recruitment policy, aimed at front-line workers such as nurses, midwives, and birth attendants. This study aimed to describe the policy’s development, formulation, and implementation process for the regionalization of health worker recruitment in Burkina Faso. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study. The unit of analysis is a single case study with several levels of analysis. This study was conducted in three remote areas in Burkina Faso for the implementation portion, and at the central level for the development portion. Indepth interviews were conducted with Ministry of Health officials in charge of human resources, regional directors, regional human resource managers, district chief medical officers, and health workers at primary health centres. In total, 46 indepth interviews were conducted (February 3 - March 16, 2011). RESULTS: Development The idea for this policy emerged after finding a highly uneven distribution of health personnel across urban and rural areas, the availability of a large number of health officers in the labour market, and the opportunity given to the Ministry of Health by the government to recruit personnel through a specific budget allocation. Formulation The formulation consisted of a call for job applications from the Ministry of Health, which indicates the number of available posts by region. The respondents interviewed unanimously acknowledged the lack of documents governing the status of this new personnel category. Implementation During the initial years of implementation (2002-2003), this policy was limited to recruiting health workers for the regions with no possibility of transfer. The possibility of job-for-job exchange was then approved for a certain time, then cancelled. Starting in 2005, a departure condition was added. Now, regionalized health workers can leave the regions after undergoing a competitive selection process. CONCLUSION: The policy was characterized by the absence of written directives and by targeting only one category of personnel. Moreover, there was no associated incentive—financial or otherwise—which poses the question of long-term viability

Operational Issues and Trends Associated with the Pilot Introduction of Zinc for Childhood Diarrhoea in Bougouni District, Mali

Zinc for the treatment of childhood diarrhoea was introduced in a pilot area in southern Mali to prepare for a cluster-randomized effectiveness study and to inform policies on how to best introduce and promote zinc at the community level. Dispersible zinc tablets in 14-tablet blister packs were provided through community health centres and drug kits managed by community health workers (CHWs) in two health zones in Bougouni district, Mali. Village meetings and individual counselling provided by CHWs and head nurses at health centres were the principal channels of communication. A combination of methods were employed to (a) detect problems in communication about the benefits of zinc and its mode of administration; (b) identify and resolve obstacles to implementation of zinc through existing health services; and (c) describe household-level constraints to the adoption of appropriate home-management practices for diarrhoea, including administration of both zinc and oral rehydration solution (ORS). Population-based household surveys with caretakers of children sick in the previous two weeks were carried out before and four months after the introduction of zinc supplementation. Household follow-up visits with children receiving zinc from the health centres and CHWs were conducted on day 3 and 14 after treatment for a subsample of children. A qualitative process evaluation also was conducted to investigate operational issues. Preliminary evidence from this study suggests that the introduction of zinc does not reduce the use of ORS and may reduce inappropriate antibiotic use for childhood diarrhoea. Financial access to treatments, management of concurrent diarrhoea and fever, and high use of unauthorized drug vendors were identified as factors affecting the effectiveness of the intervention in this setting. The introduction of zinc, if not appropriately integrated with other disease-control strategies, has the potential to decrease the appropriate presumptive treatment of childhood malaria in children with diarrhoea and fever in malaria-endemic areas

Phenotypic and molecular evaluation of maize (Zea may L.) genotypes under field conditions in the Volta region of Ghana

Maize streak disease (MSD) is the most devastating and destructive disease of maize (Zea mays L.) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Field trials were conducted in the 2014 minor and 2015 major cropping seasons to screen 16 and 17 maize genotypes, respectively, for high yield and resistance to maize streak virus (MSV) infections. The plants were scored for disease severity at 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks after planting (WAP) based on a 1-5 visual scale (1= No infection and 5= Very severe infection). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was done to detect the presence of MSV in the diseased leaf samples in order to confirm field resistance. Both phenotypic and PCR test revealed that all the maize genotypes tested in the study were infected by MSV. There was a significant varietal effect on the incidence and severity of MSD in both the major and minor seasonal trials. Genotypes ‘Abontem’,’Aburohemaa’, ‘Akposoe’, ‘Dapango’, ‘Dorke’, ‘Etubi’, ‘Honampa’, ‘Mamaba’, ‘Obatanpa’, ‘Omankwa’ and PAN 12 showed mild disease symptoms during both major and minor cropping seasons. On the other hand, genotypes ‘Dormabin’, ‘Dzinu-Eve’, ‘Enibi’, Keta 60 and PAN 53 exhibited moderate to severe symptoms during the two cropping seasons. Incidence and severity of MSD were significantly higher in the minor season than in the major season, indicating a significant seasonal effect of MSV on the maize genotypes. The yield and yield components were observed to vary significantly among the different maize genotypes and between the cropping seasons with mean yields significantly higher in the major season than in the minor season. Genotypes ‘Abontem’, ‘Aburohemaa’, ‘Akposoe’, ‘Dorke’, ‘Etubi’, ‘Honampa’, ‘Omankwa’, ‘Obatanpa’ and PAN 12 (All improved varieties), which exhibited partial resistance to MSV infection gave high seed yields during both seasons. The improved maize genotypes that were high yielding and resistant to MSV infection should be evaluated for uniform yield trials on farmers’ fields towards their release as varieties to farmers

COVID-19 restrictions and fathers of infants in neonatal care.

This is a letter without an abstract

Fathers in neonatal units: Improving infant health by supporting the baby-father bond and mother-father coparenting

The Family Initiative's International Neonatal Fathers Working Group, whose members are the authors of this paper, has reviewed the literature on engaging fathers in neonatal units, with the aim of making recommendations for improving experience of fathers as well as health outcomes in neonatal practice. We believe that supporting the father-baby bond and supporting co-parenting between the mother and the father benefits the health of the baby, for example, through improved weight gain and oxygen saturation and enhanced rates of breastfeeding. We find, however, that despite much interest in engaging with parents as full partners in the care of their baby, engaging fathers remains sub-optimal. Fathers typically describe the opportunity to bond with their babies, particularly skin-to-skin care, in glowing terms of gratitude, happiness and love. These sensations are underpinned by hormonal and neurobiological changes that take place in fathers when they care for their babies, as also happens with mothers. Fathers, however, are subject to different social expectations from mothers and this shapes how they respond to the situation and how neonatal staff treats them. Fathers are more likely to be considered responsible for earning, they are often considered to be less competent at caring than mothers and they are expected to be “the strong one”, providing support to mothers but not expecting it in return. Our review ends with 12 practical recommendations for neonatal teams to focus on: (1) assess the needs of mother and father individually, (2) consider individual needs and wants in family care plans, (3) ensure complete flexibility of access to the neonatal unit for fathers, (4) gear parenting education towards co-parenting, (5) actively promote father-baby bonding, (6) be attentive to fathers hiding their stress, (7) inform fathers directly not just via the mother, (8) facilitate peer-to-peer communication for fathers, (9) differentiate and analyse by gender in service evaluations, (10) train staff to work with fathers and to support co-parenting, (11) develop a father-friendly audit tool for neonatal units, and (12) organise an international consultation to update guidelines for neonatal care, including those of UNICEF

The distribution of hatching time in Anopheles gambiae

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the ecological differences between the molecular forms of Anopheles gambiae and their sibling species, An. arabiensis might lead to understanding their unique contribution to disease transmission and to better vector control as well as to understanding the evolutionary forces that have separated them. METHODS: The distributions of hatching time of eggs of wild An. gambiae and An. arabiensis females were compared in different water types. Early and late hatchers of the S molecular form were compared with respect to their total protein content, sex ratio, development success, developmental time and adult body size. RESULTS: Overall, the distribution of hatching time was strongly skewed to the right, with 89% of the eggs hatching during the second and third day post oviposition, 10% hatching during the next four days and the remaining 1% hatching over the subsequent week. Slight, but significant differences were found between species and between the molecular forms in all water types. Differences in hatching time distribution were also found among water types (in each species and molecular form), suggesting that the eggs change their hatching time in response to chemical factors in the water. Early hatchers were similar to late hatchers except that they developed faster and produced smaller adults than late hatchers. CONCLUSION: Differences in hatching time and speed of development among eggs of the same batch may be adaptive if catastrophic events such as larval site desiccation are not rare and the site's quality is unpredictable. The egg is not passive and its hatching time depends on water factors. Differences in hatching time between species and molecular forms were slight, probably reflecting that conditions in their larval sites are rather similar

Clinical Protection from Falciparum Malaria Correlates with Neutrophil Respiratory Bursts Induced by Merozoites Opsonized with Human Serum Antibodies

Background: Effective vaccines to combat malaria are urgently needed, but have proved elusive in the absence of validated correlates of natural immunity. Repeated blood stage infections induce antibodies considered to be the main arbiters of protection from pathology, but their essential functions have remained speculative. Methodology/Principal Findings: This study evaluated antibody dependent respiratory burst (ADRB) activity in polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) induced by Plasmodium falciparum merozoites and antibodies in the sera of two different African endemic populations, and investigated its association with naturally acquired clinical protection. Respiratory bursts by freshly isolated PMN were quantified by chemiluminescence readout in the presence of isoluminol, which preferentially detects extra-cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Using a standardized, high throughput protocol, 230 sera were analyzed from individuals of all age groups living in meso-(Ndiop) or holo-endemic (Dielmo) Senegalese villages, and enrolled in a cross-sectional prospective study with intensive follow-up. Statistical significance was determined using non-parametric tests and Poisson regression models. The most important finding was that PMN ADRB activity was correlated with acquired clinical protection from malaria in both high and low transmission areas (P = 0.006 and 0.036 respectively). Strikingly, individuals in Dielmo with dichotomized high ADRB indexes were seventeen fold less susceptible to malaria attacks (P = 0.006). Complementary results showed that ADRB activity was (i) dependent on intact merozoites and IgG opsonins, but not parasitized erythrocytes, or complement, (ii) correlated with merozoite specific cytophilic IgG1 and IgG3 antibody titers (P < 0.001 for both), and (iii) stronger in antisera from a holo-endemic compared to a meso-endemic site (P = 0.002), and reduced in asymptomatic carriers (P < 0.001). Conclusions/Significance: This work presents the first clearly demonstrated functional antibody immune correlate of clinical protection from Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and begs the question regarding the importance of ADRB by PMN for immune protection against malaria in vivo

Operational Issues and Trends Associated with the Pilot Introduction of Zinc for Childhood Diarrhoea in Bougouni District, Mali

Zinc for the treatment of childhood diarrhoea was introduced in a pilot area in southern Mali to prepare for a cluster-randomized effectiveness study and to inform policies on how to best introduce and promote zinc at the community level. Dispersible zinc tablets in 14-tablet blister packs were provided through community health centres and drug kits managed by community health workers (CHWs) in two health zones in Bougouni district, Mali. Village meetings and individual counselling provided by CHWs and head nurses at health centres were the principal channels of communication. A combination of methods were employed to (a) detect problems in communication about the benefits of zinc and its mode of administration; (b) identify and resolve obstacles to implementation of zinc through existing health services; and (c) describe household-level constraints to the adoption of appropriate home-management practices for diarrhoea, including administration of both zinc and oral rehydration solution (ORS). Population-based household surveys with caretakers of children sick in the previous two weeks were carried out before and four months after the introduction of zinc supplementation. Household follow-up visits with children receiving zinc from the health centres and CHWs were conducted on day 3 and 14 after treatment for a subsample of children. A qualitative process evaluation also was conducted to investigate operational issues. Preliminary evidence from this study suggests that the introduction of zinc does not reduce the use of ORS and may reduce inappropriate antibiotic use for childhood diarrhoea. Financial access to treatments, management of concurrent diarrhoea and fever, and high use of unauthorized drug vendors were identified as factors affecting the effectiveness of the intervention in this setting. The introduction of zinc, if not appropriately integrated with other disease-control strategies, has the potential to decrease the appropriate presumptive treatment of childhood malaria in children with diarrhoea and fever in malaria-endemic areas